TED and Me

I’ve been working on a remix for a MET assignment and am starting to think of the power involved in using this tool in education. As I contructed my remix, I became more involved with the subject of the remix, the bits and pieces that I was using to create my digital collage.

Assuming that a teacher has some video editing knowledge and the resources to edit video, I can see numerous possibilities for student-centered learning to occur. Take a project-based approach to learning, for example. The end product is the remix. The process of learning is the gathering of knowledge, identifying key points, finding material to place in the remix, collaborating to create a storyboard and narrative, cutting and pasting, editing of the remix, and making the final product, and then encouraging peer-to-peer feedback, and so on.

If interested, below is my first attempt at making a remix:

Donald Duck dreams a remix and Creative Commons

This is a re-imagined Donald Duck cartoon remix constructed using Jonathan McIntosh’s remix Right Wing Radio Duck (http://www.rebelliouspixels.com).

The video is part of a UBC MET ETEC531 (http://met.ubc.ca/met_courses/descripti­ons/etec531.htm) assigned task showing how changes are underfoot regarding digital aethetics. My hope is that the various dialogue, text, and animation narrate how art, creativity, and culture rely on the past to exist, and that technology enframes how they are created, used, and reused in the future. For example, some technologies are controlling (such as TV or Radio), empowering the creators or owners of an object. Meanwhile new media allow for a freer outcome (such as the remix), where the art or culture is less bound by a creator. I also attempt to show a part of what remix culture is, some of the issues inolved, such as copyright issues, and how Creative Commons plays a role in digital aesthetics, maintaining, if desired, some of the control older media had .

I haven’t been able to write about what I want to lately, but I would still like to share with everyone what I’ve been working on.

This is an elevator pitch for the My Words series of applications used for learning the English language. This pitch is part of an assessed task for UBC’s MET ETEC522 course. Thanks to John Milton, creator of the My Words applications, for giving me permission to use them for my assignment.

There’s a longer pitch, but I think this elevator pitch is more enjoyable to watch.

Enjoy.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny28OsZcojE[/youtube]

In August, I introduced GoAnimate to my university students (Early Admission Students) and asked them to choose an area in grammar that Chinese speakers often have difficulties with. This could have been prepositions, vocabulary (commonly misused words), tenses, and so on. First, I can gave them a short example:

GoAnimate.com: frightened vs frightening by smcminn

Then I ask them to create a story (approx. 3 minutes long) where a grammar error occurs causing some misunderstanding and, eventually, the discovery of the grammar rule. The results were interesting. Here’s one example:

GoAnimate.com: EGG animation by Paddy and Terence by Paddy Cheung

More examples can be found here. (Just a warning: some are good, some are bad.) I would need to rework the activity to ensure better quality, and, perhaps, less offensive creations.But that’s the idea of experimenting, isn’t it. You learn from what works and what doesn’t.

After the task was completed, I asked students to complete a questionnaire. The results, I think, are mainly positive. I’m excited to explore the use of animation in the classroom some more.

Someone shared this through Twitter and I thought that I’d share here. It’s a nice visual comparison with a frightening truth to it.

Amusing Ourselves to Death

In ETEC565, we were asked to:

Select one of the web 2.0 tools from the ones listed on the page (or others that you know of if you want), and create a short media piece that tells a story.  You can tell a story about yourself or about some issue.  You can also use the tool to tell a story that could be used in your classroom in relation to an activity or part of your curriculum.  You choose.

I chose goanimate.com to tell my story. You can read more about why here.

I also said in an earlier post that I would comment a little on Jenkin’s book. I’m about halfway through and i think that it’s been a very informative read Here are just a couple of points from the bookthat I’d like to highlight (I also talk about this on my digital story page).

Jenkins identifies four activities youth should develop skills in, especially in today’s media changing word:

• Affilitations: Memberships, formal and informal in online communities centered around various forms of media, such as Friendter, Facebook, metagaming, etc.
• Expressions: Producing new creative forms such as digital sampling, skinning and modding, fan videos, fan fiction, ones, or mash-ups.
• Collaborative problem-solving: Working together in teams — formal and informal — to complete tasks and develop new knowledge, such as through Wikipedia, alternative reality gaming, or spoiling.
• Circulations: Shaping the flow of media, such as podcasting or blogging.

I believe goanimate.com offers students a chance to develop these skills. However, Jenkins makes a good point that in order for activities to work, and to create an effective participatory culture, cultures (that is educational, national, etc.) must support them (2009); the curriculum must recognize and support these types of technologies and activities. Jenkins also says: “inter-activity is a property of the technology, while participation is the property of culture”. I think that that is an important point to remember.

Jenkins also identifies and discusses three problems:

• the participation gap (similar, but not identical to the digital divide)
• the transparency problem (do youth have deeper understanding of hoe media shapes their perception of the world)
• the ethics challenge (i.e. copyright issues)

In honour of my classmates …

GoAnimate.com: ETEC Life form discovered! by smcminn

I’ll write more about what I think about the pedagogical values of goanimate and similar tools soon.

SIDE NOTE: I just bought the book Confronting the Challenges of Particpatroy Culutre by Henry Jenkins. So far it’s a great read! (I’ll comment more after I’ve read a bit more.)

I’ve been playing around with some Web 2.0 applications. I created this animation using www.goanimate.com. I’m thinking of having students use this tool to create storyboards, which, I think, has a lot of pedagogical value. Have a look and let me know what you think.

GoAnimate.com: frightened vs frightening by smcminn

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It’s free and fun!

As I trudge through my MET courses, I’m introduced to useful resources that I would like to share on this blog. One of the more ueful resources introdced to me recently includes: Seven Principles For Good Practice in Undergraduate Education by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson. Here they are:

1. Encourages contact between students and faculty
2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.
3. Encourages active learning.
4. Gives prompt feedback.
5. Emphasizes time on task.
6. Communicates high expectations.
7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

A more recent article considers technology: Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever by Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann. By combining the Seven Principles with the SECTIONS model, one can think more critically while considering what and how to implement any technology into a curriculum.

An inspirational video.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScUq7iZk9rQ[/youtube]